British navigator James Cook brought sheep to New Zealand on his voyages in 1773 and 1777, but they did not become established. Missionary Samuel Marsden had more success when he brought sheep from New South Wales to the Bay of Islands in 1814, although the flock remained small and did not spread beyond the mission stations. John Bell imported 103 sheep to Mana Island, north of Wellington, in 1834 to provide fresh meat for whalers.

The real foundations of sheep farming were laid in Wairarapa, Canterbury and Otago in the early 1840s. In 1843 and 1844 Charles Bidwill, Charles Clifford, William Vavasour and Henry Petre shipped 1,600 sheep from Australia to New Zealand. In 1844 they drove about 950 animals around the coast from Wellington to Wairarapa.

William and John Deans introduced the first sheep onto the Canterbury Plains when they brought Merinos from Sydney to their Riccarton farm in 1843. In 1844 Johnny Jones, who had established a whaling station at Waikouaiti in Otago in 1839, ran 2,000 sheep on land he leased from Māori.